Mat or floor covering



'June 26, 1934. J R GAMMETER 1,964,348

MAT OR FLOOR COVERING Filed Jan. 6, 1932 lNVENTOR ATTORNEYS Patented June 26, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE This invention relates to floor coverings or mats and methods for making the same.

The general purposes of the invention are to provide inexpensive mats or floor coverings having effective non-skid surfaces and capable of being easily cleaned, and also to provide a economical method for producing the same.

The foregoing and other purposes of the invention are attained in the mat construction illustrated in the accompanying drawing and by the process set forth below with reference to said mat.

Of the accompanying drawing,

Figure 1 is a plan view of a mat embodying the invention;

Figure 2 is a section along line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a section along line 3-3 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view of the mat as shown in Figure 3; and

Figure 5 is an enlarged fragmentary plan view of the mat.

Referring to the drawing, the mat 10 is made of a mixture of vulcanizable rubber and ground rubberized fabric or textile materials such as worn 5 or defective tire casings, etc. thoroughly milled together whereby the fibres of the textile material are thoroughly distributed throughout the A suitable batch of material for making mats or floor covering may include fifty percent of vulcanizable rubber admixed with fifty percent of the ground rubberized textile material. This batch is preferably sheeted and sheets thereof are placed in a mold preferably along with a fabric 5 backing layer 11 of rubberized fabric and molded and vulcanized to provide spaced projections such as ribs 12, 12 defined by recesses such as grooves 13, 13.

A mat or floor covering so formed will have a veneer of smooth rubber over its entire surfaces. This is desirable in the grooves or recesses 13 in which dirt might tend to collect in that the smooth rubber surfaces in the grooves or recesses are easily cleaned. The grooves or recesses are preferably rounded as shown to facilitate such cleaning and to avoid the presence of corners into which dirt may collect.

The surfaces of the projections or ribs 12, however, should not be smooth since it is desired that these shall have non-skidding properties. Accordingly the surfaces of the projections or ribs 12 are bufied off by a suitable abrading tool or device (not shown) until the fibres in the body of the mat or floor covering are exposed as indicated in Figure 5. These fibres serve to prevent slipping or skidding on the surfaces of the projections or ribs in the floor covering.

It is to be understood that the mats or floor coverings may be made with projections and recesses of any desired shape and arrangement to produce any desired design and that the invention is not limited to the use of the particular rib and groove design illustrated.

By the invention a mat or floor covering is economically provided having a suitable design including projections and recesses, the surfaces of the projections being effectively non-skidding and the surfaces of the recesses being smooth and easily cleaned. Obviously modifications of the invention may be resorted to without departing from the spirit thereof or the scope of the appended claim.

What is claimed is:-

A mat or floor covering comprising a body portion including a homogeneous mixture of vulcanizable rubber and fibres, said mat or floor covering being vulcanized whereby a thin veneer of smooth rubber is formed over all the surfaces thereof, said mat being formed withprojections and recesses on its upper surface and the surfaces of said projections only being abraded to remove said veneer of rubber therefrom and to expose the fibrous material at said surfaces, said recesses being of rounded formation and having said smooth veneer covering the surfaces of the same whereby dirt will not cling to the surfaces of the mat in the recesses.

JOHN R. GAMMETER. 

